As soon as possible after the birth

After your baby is born you will receive a Parent Pack from your midwife or hospital. This pack contains some very important items – such as your Newborn Child Declaration. You will need this to register your child with Medicare and complete your application for Parental Leave Pay or other government payments.

Register your baby’s birth

The hospital will give you a form to register your baby’s birth. This copy has an official section, which will have been completed by the hospital. So don’t lose it!!

Lodge your complete form with Births, Deaths and Marriages or a local Magistrates Court. The birth must be registered within 60 days or you may be fined.

If you do lose the form supplied by the hospital, you can get another from your hospital, most Magistrate Courts or by calling the registry. You can register the birth for free but if you want to receive a birth certificate you need to complete the relevant section of the form and send the correct payment.

Add your child to Medicare

A baby is covered under their parents’ Medicare (if eligible) should any treatment be required within the first few days. But it’s advisable to register your child at the earliest opportunity. Once enrolled, their details will automatically be added to the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register.

Add your child to your Private Health Insurance

Add your child to the Medicare Family Safety Net

The Medicare Safety Net will cover your ‘gap’ payments for out-of-hospital services once you reach a certain limit (a ‘gap’ payment is the difference between what Medicare pays and the Schedule Fee). It is possible to group family members together so all payments count towards the same limit. To register your family, complete a Family Safety Net application form. You may be given a copy of the form at the hospital, if not, copies are available from Medicare. If your family is already registered and you wish to add another child you can add the child over the counter at Medicare.

Complete application forms for government financial benefits

You may be eligible for some financial assistance from the government following the birth of your baby. Application forms will usually be provided in hospital – or you might have already started your claim online. Whether you’ve started or not, you will need to provide proof of birth to compete your claim. This is the Newborn Child Declaration that was in your Parent Pack, it contains an official stamp from the hospital and it is important to use this copy for any benefit claims.

Paid Parental Leave has to be paid within a year of the birth. Therefore you must claim within 34 weeks to claim the full 18 weeks’ of Paid Parental Leave.

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